January 30

"President Bush commutes the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean"!![2] On his last full day in office, the President responds to public outcry and commutes sentences of two former Border Patrol agents imprisoned for shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005.

In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day"To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing," and "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

College Campus Welcomes Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers Jan. 29 Move America Forward is reporting that several conservative groups are taking a stand against St. Mary's College of California for allowing William Ayers a speaking forum. [3][4][5]

No writer has the ability to evoke a sense of horror and dread more effectively than Edgar Allan Poe, born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. [6]

Is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid already fed up with Barack Obama? "In a warning last week to the incoming administration, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made it clear he won't be taking orders from the newly elected president. Reid told Roll Call last week that 'I don't work for Barack Obama -- I work with him.'"[27]

The world's largest American History course for teenagers has completed, with grading of the final exam papers to be completed this weekend (the final exam will later be posted here). On January 29th, we start with our World History course and new internet students are welcome here.

Israel shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the U.N. and witnesses said, engulfing the compound and the main warehouse in fire and destroying thousands of pounds of food intended for Palestinian refugees. The U.N. chief, in Israel for the day, demanded a "full explanation." [37]

Barack Obama's Climate Czarina Was Member of Socialist Group's Environmental Commission -- Carol Browner, President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be his climate czarina, served until last summer as a member of a socialist organization whose mission is to enact "progressive" government policies. Browner's name and biography have been scrubbed from the Web site of Socialist International, the umbrella group for 170 "social democratic, socialist and labor parties" in 55 countries. But a photo of Browner speaking in Greece to the group's Congress on June 30 remained in the site's archives. More of the change (and lies) we expected from Obama. [38]

Richard Epstein writes, "At the abstract level, the new Obama administration has made job-creation its first priority. At the concrete level, job-destruction will be its first tangible achievement, with its looming decision to ratchet up government regulation of labor markets."[40]

On 15 January 1759, the British Museum opened its doors for the first time to the public. Set up by Parliament six years earlier it was the first national museum in the world. 250 years later it is still one of the enduring achievements of the European Enlightenment and its collection has played a major part in shaping our understanding of human history. [42]

The idiocy of teachers today, as one surf teacher says that it's more important to have the kids in the water without worries than it is for them to find out the hard way that an unwelcome guest is swimming nearby: [48]

Americans are far more charitable than Canadians, giving "more than double" as a percentage of income and "almost three times more" in the average donation.[49]

Paris area synagogue hit in firebomb attack Two Molotov cocktails were hurled at a synagogue north of Paris, the latest attack in what France's interior minister said Monday is a new wave of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim attacks over the violence in Gaza. No injuries were reported. [53]

Roland Burris has been certified by U.S. Senate officials to fill the seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Roland Burris has been certified by U.S. Senate officials to fill the seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, FOX News has learned. [54]

Obama Unlikely To Quickly Close Gitmo-- The Los Angeles Times reports that in an interview on ABC's "This Week," President-elect Obama "acknowledged that not everything he promised to do during the campaign would be able to happen quickly. Really? Oh My! In particular, he said, he was "unlikely to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp in the first 100 days of his presidency." Of course the liberal paper buried that tid-bit deep down into the story. [55]

Ann Coulter: Is a “Whiner” Who Should Be Hung on a Cross -- CBS's Harry Smith.“You talk about victims and victimhood in America, which I think is a serious problem. On the other hand, the more I listen to your complaints, the more I kept thinking, well, you’re the whiner. You’re the one who’s claiming victimhood here. That you’re the victim of this great left-wing conspiracy....You should — you should have a cross. You should put yourself up on a cross.”— CBS’s Harry Smith on the January 6 Early Show scolding conservative author Ann Coulter about her new book Guilty: Liberal Victims and Their Assault on America.[57]

January 17

Defect Analysis and Liberalism "Liberals tend to assume that all social problems are "common," to be addressed by redesigning the whole system. They always call for some new congressional or regulatory or judicial action to impose a blanket 'solution' that seldom works." [59]

Aren't you glad the Democrats are in power? While Democratic Governor Blagojevich was jogging in the snow, the Illinois House impeached him by a 114-1 vote, setting up a trial in the Illinois Senate. Meanwhile, the Illinois Supreme Court said that his appointment of Roland Burris was fully effective without needing signature by the Illinois Secretary of State. But Democratic U.S. Senator Dick Durbin "said the Senate will not accept Burris without the signature."[60]

Israel has begun sending reserve units into the Gaza Strip as the military continues to pound the territory for the 16th consecutive day. [61]

Our tax dollars at work: the U.S. government is paying parents to explain obvious reasons why they are declining vaccination. "I never questioned the efficacy or intelligence of doing vaccines until I was in the hospital with my newborn daughter and a doctor tried to get me to give her hepatitis B vaccine," one mother explained. "Hepatitis B is a sexually transmitted disease. I knew I didn't have hepatitis B. I knew my husband didn't have it. I knew there was no way she would come in contact with anyone with hepatitis B."[62]

The Media Collude in TerroristCrimes against Humanity
"The simple fact is that we are seeing repeated crimes against humanity, an endless collusion between the terror masters and the dominant media, resulting in a reign of terror that blights the lives of millions of people and kills unforgiveable numbers, both in Israel and its neighbors." [63]

Pulitzer Prize values? "A Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright and actor was arrested early Saturday morning in the Twin Cities on preliminary charges of drunk driving and speeding."[64]

"Gardasil again denied approval for women 27-45"[66] "Merck shares fell nearly 3 percent in midday trading." Meanwhile, some families are still being fooled into allowing girls as young as 9 years old to receive this often-harmful vaccine.

January 15

A lead story shows that the New York Times has lost its false fear of "big cuts" in Medicare when they're proposed by Barack Obama."Obama Promises Bid To Overhaul Retiree Spending," characterized the president-elect's stated willingness to tackle huge entitlement programs Social Security and Medicare in mostly positive terms. The reporters described Obama's vague proposal as an "overhauling," an "approach to rein in Social Security and Medicare," and an "effort to cut back the rates of growth of the two programs." Compare that to how the paper treated the last serious attempt to fix Medicare, back in the mid-1990's; The paper's myriad inaccuracies were documented by the MRC's Tim Graham in July 1996. Just more media deceit.

Iraq War Update: Less Americans died in Iraq than Chicago in 2008.[67] Total figures put Iraq at 314 American deaths, 195 fewer than Chicago at 509 homicides. The people predicting the Surge to fail, the ones demanding redeployment, and to call for a surrender in Iraq -now lead the Congress. The people that govern Chicago, those in charge of law and order, now lead the nation. Thank a soldier next time you see one, salute him/her for their brave work.

CNN took another anti-Israel line in the Gaza Strip battle with a certain video filmed in a trauma center...then withdrew it after others discovered that not only was there a faked CPR in the picture, but a rabidly anti-Jewish, anti-American doctor directing it: [68]

Barack Obama now says that the massive stimulus bill -- or corrupt spending bill -- will have "ranges from $800 (billion) to $1.3 trillion" in cost to taxpayers.[69]

A Moslem cleric who calls for the destruction of America, lives in America with permanent residency status and is actively seeking U.S. citizenship: [71]

LiberalDemocrats demonstrate once again how meaningless their word is, a mere 24 hours after refusing to seat Roland Burris: "under pressure on Wednesday, Senate Democrats began the process of retreating from their previous hard line against seating Burris."[72]

January 12

The Democratic-controlled, all-white U.S. Senate has just refused to seat Roland Burris, the black appointee from Illinois. Democrats fear that he would lose the Democratic seat if he ran in the next election. [81]Rep. Bobby Rush, (D-Ill), accused the Senate leadership of racism.I think that if Roland Burris hadn't been an African-American, then he would have been allowed to accept the appointment and become a senator.[82]

Leon Panetta will head Obama’sCIA. According to Michelle Malkin, it's another day and another cluelessClintoncrony named to a top job for which he has no experience. While Panetta might have no experience in intelligence gathering, he does have a great deal of experience in politics. [84]Sen. Dianne Feinstein(D-Calif.), who this week assumes the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, took a slap at both Barack Obama and Panetta:"I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA director,” My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.” A spokesman for Sen. Jay Rockefeller(D.-W.V.), who served as intelligencechairman in the last Congress, indicated that Rockefeller was "puzzled" by Obama’s selection of Panetta. [85]

HollywoodConservatives Encouraged to Come Out of the Closet
Andrew Breitbart, the conservative founder of Breitbart.com and author of "Hollywood Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon," is launching a website he hopes will help challenge the status quo in what he believes has been a one-party, left-tilting town. Set to debut on Jan. 6, "Big Hollywood" will be a place where center, right and libertarian-leaning celebrities and industry-insiders can weigh in on Hollywood politics, offer film, television and movie reviews, and have an open forum for political discussion. [86]

China targets Google in pornography crackdownChina launched a major crackdown on pornography targeting popular online portals and search engines including Google. China's State Council is working to "protect the healthy development of minors." When will the U.S. protect American children from accessing Google pornography? [90]

Michelle Obama is copying Jackie Kennedy Onassis: "Her obvious imitation of Jackie O's style -- the flipped-under hair, the sleeveless A-line dresses, the short strands of fake pearls -- would have been laughable if done by anyone other than a media-designated saint," writes Ann Coulter in her new book.[94]

Detroit has been at the forefront of a growing but controversial movement that aims to boost student achievement by splitting the sexes into different schools. [102]

"The New York Times said while Kennedy is forceful, she remains elusive, and noted that she never answered directly whether she would actually run in an election for the Senate seat if she weren't appointed first."[103]

IllinoisgovernorRod Blagojevich has appointed African American Roland Burris to Obama's Senate seat, but the Democratic Senate vows to block him from being sworn in.[104]Obama's aide had reportedly pushed Blagojevich earlier to pick a crony of Obama who had never been elected to public office before.

In our biggest expansion in over a year, Conservapedia is bringing in the New Year by promoting 6 new Sysops.

It appears as if more and more Americans doubt whether Obama is a natural born citizen and therefore legally entitled to be President of the United States. The numbers of Americans who are concerned about this issue may be extremely large. The liberal "mainstream" media continues to be negligent in doing their duty when it comes to informing the public and about this issue. [105] It is no surprise that the very liberal New York Times has lost 60 percent of its stock value in 2008 as consumers keep finding alternative news content and companies find better places to advertise and sell their products.

Only 17% of Chicago's eighth-grade students can read at grade-level, and the man who's administered that school system is Obama's choice to be the secretary of education: [106]

January 7

Time to revisit the UAW's own past discrimination against those Americans who dared to drive a vehicle with a foreign nameplate, never mind the fact that the drivers in this example wear the uniform of the United States Marine Corps: [108]

In one area, Christian schools are on the rise, with enrollment growing by 25 percent.[109]

"The results of Che's utopian agenda aren't much to admire either. As author Paul Berman explained in 2004 in Slate, 'The cult of Ernesto Che Guevara is an episode in the moral callousness of our time. Che was a totalitarian. He achieved nothing but disaster.' The miserable Argentine was killed in 1967 in the Bolivian Andes while trying to spread revolution in South America. But his vision of how to govern lives on in the Cuba of today. It is a slave plantation, where a handful of wealthy white men impose their "morality" on the masses, most of whom are black and who suffer unspeakable privation with zero civil liberties.[111]

Update on Blagojevich scandal: "The chairman of the House impeachment committee, state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), will respect [U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald]'s request and not issue the subpoenas for incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and close Obama friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett" ... because Fitzgerald said "doing so would 'significantly compromise' his ongoing criminal investigation of the governor."[121]

How is Universal Healthcare working in the UK? A pregnant woman in the U.K., Lynne Neilson was left unattended for two-and-a-half hours before giving birth on a hospital floor. Despite her desperate appeal for a bed, a healthy baby Orla was delivered with the umbilical cord around her neck, a potentially life threatening occurrence. [122]

Pressure to give Caroline Kennedy a U.S. Senate seat runs into criticism.New York Governor "Paterson: Kennedy Is Not a 'Front-Runner' For Senate." He slammed the gossip: "chatter about Kennedy's chances was 'sounding more like the prelude to a high school prom than the choosing of the United States senator.'"[132]

Obama avoids church on Christmas. "Obama has not attended a public church service since before the Nov. 4 election."[133] Good thing he's a Christian as he claimed, right???

"Up to 20 percent of children and adolescents are affected by persistent and excessive worry that can manifest as generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder and social phobia," accordingly to researchers. [134] Anxiety can be described as a lack of faith.

"And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:7 (KJV)

"Indeed, from [Jesus's] fullness we have, all of us, received - one gift replacing another." John 1:16 (NJB) (Note: "gift" is another translation for "grace")

"It's an astonishing fact that year after year, the Bible is the best-selling book in America -- even though 90% of households already have at least one copy."[138] So writes Stephanie Simon for the Wall Street Journal, where this talented reporter seems to be after covering Conservapedia last year for the L.A. Times.

The Democrats are leading Congress the wrong way again. "Approval of Congress' job performance is down to single digits again for the first time since early September. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters found that only nine percent (9%) give Congress good or excellent ratings, while 54% give the legislature poor marks. Just one-out-of-50 voters (2%) think Congress is doing an excellent job." [142]

January 2

"After receiving billions in aid from U.S.taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they either can't track exactly how they're spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it." [143]